Mandarin and Sichuanese are widely spoken through out the province and in the north and west Tibetan is still the mother tongue. Many young people in the western regions are bi-lingual. The vast majority of signage is always in Chinese throughout the province.

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Mandarin and Sichuanese are widely spoken through out the province and in west Sichuan Tibetan is still the mother tongue. Many young people in the western regions are bi-lingual. The vast majority of signage is always in Chinese throughout the province.

Understand

Talk

Mandarin and Sichuanese are widely spoken through out the province and in west Sichuan Tibetan is still the mother tongue. Many young people in the western regions are bi-lingual. The vast majority of signage is always in Chinese throughout the province.

Get in

Get around

See

Dacheng Lamo Kerti Gompa - located at Langmusi, temple where traditional Tibetian sky-burials are still practiced

Do

Eat

Sichuan cuisine is well-known worldwide, including dishes like Kung Pao Chicken (宮保雞丁) and Twice Cooked Pork (回鍋肉). It is also famously spicy, with liberal use of chilies and the indigenous Sichuan pepper (花椒 huājiāo).

One of the other specialty of the area is the Hot Pot (Huo guo - 火锅）, cheap but extremely spicy.

Nanfu Bund Hotel, ☎86-28-84553939, [1]. Nanfu Bund Hotel is a five star hotel located in Jinjiang District. While staying at this hotel, you might want to visit some of their tourist spots which includes Jinjiang River and Wangjiang Park. They have air-conditioned rooms that has a cable TV, private toilet and bath, hair dryer, and a free high-speed Internet access. No. 117 Shunjiang Road, Jinjiang District, Chendu, Sichuan, China. Rates start at CNY 322.25+.

Stay safe

The province of Sichuan suffered a catastrophic earthquake on May 12, 2008 centered on Wenchuan County, about 100km north of Chengdu city. Many cities were nearly completaly destroyed and over 80,000 people are dead or missing with hundreds of thousands more injured or homeless. Government response was fast, but reconstruction will still take years.

Many of Sichuan's main attractions are located at altitudes above 3,000 meters and thus altitude sickness is a threat. Make sure to monitor your own health and take it easy for a day or two if moving from the low lands to higher elevations.

To help combat this sickness, many local Chinese eat medicine known as Hong Jing Tian. These are red capsules that the soldiers of the People's Liberation Army use to help them quickly adjust to altitude conditions in the Western Chinese provinces. Local tour companies will have a ready supply of this medicine if you ask.

There is also tension in Western Sichuan between the Chinese government and the mainly Tibetan people there and travel restrictions may apply to this area. See the warnings under Tibet.